Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-04-23
LINCOLN AND STANTON.
THFiR MEETING THE NIGHT OF THE
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

The President In an Agony OF Anxiety.
Tho Secretary OF War Carries Mid
night Dispatch to the White House.
Tscstacy.
One evening ut a crowded party given
by Senator Dixon / was forced by the
press into n corner, and on looking around
found my next neighbor was Secretary
Stanton BY and by Dixon came along,
and spying us, said stanton, tell him
the scene between Old Abe and you tho
night Of the battle of Gettysburg STAN
ton then related the following:
Mr. Lincoln had been excessively solic-
itous about the result Of that battle. It
was known that Lee had crossed into
Pennsylvania, threatened Washington and
that battle had been joined near Gettys-
burg, upon which in all probability the
fate Of Washington and the issue OF the
war depended The telegraphic wires ran
into the war department, and dispatches
had been received Of the results of the
first days Il lit, which showed how des-
perate was the attack, the stubboruness
Of the defense and that Tic result wG3
ndecisiye.
AN AGONY OF ANXIETY.
All that day and the next Mr.. Lincoln
was in an agony of anxiety, running over,
as was his wont, 10 the war Office to as
certain for himself the latest news instead
81 waiting for the reports to be sent him
by his subordinates. Then came q long
interval when nothing was heard from
Meade, and the president was wrought up
to an intense pitch of excitement. Night
came on and Stanton, seeing the president
worn out with care and anxiety per-
suadcd him to return to the White Houee,
promising If anything came over the wires
Turing the night to give him Immediate
information. At last, toward midnight,
anne the electric flash of that great vic
tory which saved the Union.
Stanton seized the dispatch and ran as
fast as he could to the executive mansion,
up the stairs and knocked at the room
where the president was catching titful
| lumber "Who is there?'' he heard ir
| he voice Of Mr.. Lincoln. Stanton
| The door was opened and Mr.. Lincclr
| appeared with light in his hand pcerinl
| through the crack of the door, Sin tht
| ,hortest nightdress and longest legs a!
stanton said, he ever saw on human
icing. Before Stanton, who was out O
breath, could say a word, the president
| Who had caught with unerring instinc
| nc expression on his face, gave shou
| If exultation, grabbed him with boil
rms around the waist and danced hin
around the chamber until they were boil
exhausted.
UNTIL THE DAY DAMNED.
They then sat down upon trunk ant
l hn eff In. hir YNfrrbt
lress, read over and over again the teie
ram and then discussed with him tn
Probabilities of the future and the re
ults of the victory until the day dawned
Such q scene at midnight between tw
f the greatest Americans whom this gen
ration has produced to whom an all wis
Providence had committed in largest meas
ire the fate Of republican liberty in thi
Western world, may not afford subjec
or the Hottest conceptions Of the poet 6
| ne painter, but more than any other inc
lent within my knowledge it shows tn
| human nature of these two great men, an
| rings them home to the hearthstones {
he plain people of whom Mr.. Lincol
vas, on whom he depended and whom h
owed. 1t shows him brooding all throug
hose three awful days, with an anxiet
kin to agony which no one could share
gorn and weary with the long and doub
III conflict between hope and fear-trea(
ag the wine press for his people alont
And at last, when the lightning flash ha
fted the dark cloud, dancing like schoo
10Y in the ecstacy of delight and exhib,
ng touch of that human nature whc
make all the world akin. - Augustr
5randegee in New York Tribune.